Guitar Archeology » Stories

My First Guitar, Stella. By, Mick Flynn

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:44:03 +0000

It was 1964, I was living at RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk, England.

Front Gate RAF Woodbridge

It was a great time to be in England with the Music scene happening at the time. We had some great music coming to the base playing the clubs.

Airmans Club RAF Woodbridge

I was able to experience bands like The Animals, The Searchers, Georgie Fame and Dusty Springfield. After school, I would go to the Base Exchange and look through the catalogs at pictures of guitars and pick out the ones that I liked, always hoping that I might be able to get one someday.

Base Exchange RAF Woodbridge

But, it was seeing The Rolling Stones at the Gaumont Theatre in Ipswich that really got me motivated to play the guitar.

Gaumont Theatre Ipswich

I got my first guitar a ‘Stella’. I had borrowed it from my neighbor, Billy Bird. It had one string (the low E string…) I learned to play the ‘Peter Gunn Theme’ and was able to talk my parents into buying it for me.

The guitar cost $5 ! The new strings cost more than the guitar did. My cousin Sue, boyfriend at the time (later to be husband) Des Lee, played in a band called “Lee Walker and the Travellers”, came by, put the new strings on and taught me my first chords, E, A and D. He told me these 3 chords are Rock n Roll and that’s all you need. Best lesson I ever got!

Here is the Guitar;

Stella

I used this till I was able to get my first Electric Guitar, a Green Sunburst Rosetti Lucky7 at a second hand shop at the Market in Doncaster, Yorkshire.

Harvey Thomas and John Lennon

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:10:00 +0000

When I met Harvey Thomas, he showed me this guitar he made for John Lennon. According to Harvey, John did not take delivery of the guitar, because of the comments John had made about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus. Harvey, also told me he had to fire an employee, he found sanding on the guitar, without sandpaper !

Now here are the pictures of the guitar. Enjoy!

Mick Flynn

Thanks to Denise Pressnall for the pics

Brian Setzer Buying a Gretsch from Larry Briggs

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:21:08 +0000

Brian Setzer paid me 7K for a Gretsch on this particular day in Houston. He counts his money by listening to the C notes as they fan past his ear. Not really..

Larry Briggs, Strings West

1960’s Supro Dual Tone with matching Supro Amplifier

admin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:04:55 +0000

Another set that came through Mick’s Vintage Guitars. A 1960’s Supro Dual Tone Guitar with matching Supro Amplifier

Harvey Thomas Custom Guitars by Mick Flynn

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:29:42 +0000

Here is a picture of what it looked like at Harvey Thomas Custom Guitars, Midway Washington. I used to walk up there in my High School days with my buddies. Bought my first Wah-Wah pedal from Harvey. It was quite a scene.. Went out back of his house to the Long shop, past the ponds, cars, ambulances, T-33 Jet trainer and buses ! Harvey came out from behind the shop, dressed like he just came from a Safari in his Tan Outfit complete with pith helmet, smoking a cigar, asking what we wanted. He then pointed to a dummy hanging from a noose, saying this is what happened to the last guy who was poking around ! He then warmed up and took us into the shop. WOW! What a scene, guitars hanging from everywhere, even in the pond outside ! Harvey left an impression on everyone who was lucky enough to experience him. Sure glad I got the opportunity.

Mick Flynn

Thanks to

Denise Pressnall for the great pictures !

One of the first impressions of Harveys’ place!

Billy Gibbons and his Rambler. By Buck Munger

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:46:29 +0000

I took Billy Gibbons across the street to meet his neighbor with the car for sale. Mister Gibbons had been camped at the Two Louies mansion for a few days and had noticed the little red 1960 Rambler parked across the street. I knew it had been for sale for over a year with an original asking price of $6,000. My neighbor was a bit stunned to be confronted on his porch by a pop star, but Billy made sure they hit it off and after a twenty-minute bargaining session Billy bought it for $1,500. This, after Billy explained that he intended to make the car famous. Mister Gibbons maintains a fully staffed automobile restoration facility in Los Angeles. He said he intended to jack up the little red Rambler and turn it into a 4 by 4 monster car. My neighbor, the ZZ Top fan, saw a chance to be part of rock auto history. The ZZ Top tour bus pulled up with a tow-bar attached and the little red Rambler headed off to a new life in the ZZ Fleet. A few months later I got a faxed invitation to a coming out party for the “Little Willy 4X4” in Los Angeles.

Harvey Thomas Guitar “The Green Falcon” (at least that’s what we called it…) By Mick Flynn

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:14:35 +0000

Here is a picture of the Harvey Thomas “Green Falcon” (that’s what we called it, not the official name..). This guitar showed up in my shop in the early 80’s. I got it from Gordy Kjelberg, who had a few of these here Thomas Guitars. It eventually ended up with Paul Day and then Tony Bacon’s book “The Ultimate Guitar”.

Guitar Crazy at the “City Of Roses Guitar Show” Portland Oregon

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:13:05 +0000

Here is a lovely display of Robert Stull’s, “Guitar Crazy” Guitars at the City Of Roses Guitar show at the Monarch Hotel, Clackamas, Oregon in the 90’s..

1968 Kustom K200A Semi Hollow Electric Guitar

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:49:12 +0000

In 1968, Kustom developed and marketed a great Rickenbacher / Gretsch / Mosrite influenced guitar the K200A.

Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers. By Buck Munger

admin — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:09:41 +0000

I was honored to be among the first to receive a Gold record from Tom Petty. “You’re Gonna Get It’ was Tom’s second album, but the first to go Gold. The first lp sold only 6,500 units in the first three months; the second went Gold in 60 days. It was a big deal. I liked Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers. They reminded me …of my Marine band buddies, the Mark V. Good ol’ southern rockers. In my experience as a player, southern musicians just seem to have a shade more soul, and like southern girls, they blossom early. The Heartbreakers were from Gainesville, Florida. Not the Florida where the Yankee tourists go, the central, rural, old south, Confederate-battleground, Florida. Gainesville is also the home of the University of Florida and a well-established music scene. We shared knowledge of southeastern rock radio and swapped stories of playing the college fraternity party circuit. Tom went to high school with, and took guitar lessons from, another of my Gibson artists, Don Felder of the Eagles. In 1974, Tom, guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench, were signed by Denny Cordell to Leon Russell’s Shelter records as “Mudcrutch.” They moved to Hollywood to record, but no Mudcrutch product was ever released. Two years later Leon had left the label and Tom and the boys had become Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. This relationship was unlike others in my earlier career. Where before, my knowledge of music publishing and production agreements fueled our friendship, these guys were already hip to the game, and not too happy about it. Shelter had been sold to MCA and they were claiming Tom owed them $575,000 in un-recouped advances, or another six albums. Tom responded by declaring bankruptcy, and in a compromise, agreed to record for the MCA subsidiary Backstreet Records. This wasn’t the last time Tom gave MCA Heartburn. In 1981the label announced a new “Superstar Pricing” structure adding a dollar to the normal $8.98 retail price. Tom balked and threatened to name the album “Eight Ninety-Eight”. The label gave in and the album was delivered to stores a month late. The pendulum was finally swinging the artist’s way and Tom Petty was at the forefront of the change.